Artificial turf and natural grass are the two playing surfaces that are used in football. Natural grass is being phased out of all levels of football from professional all the way down to high school. Even the smaller high schools are turning to artificial turf fields. Some colleges are using turf for their intramural fields, softball fields, and baseball fields. So which is better? Turf or Grass? There are pros and cons to both that have been found that will be discussed in this blog.
Artificial turf is long strands of polyethylene plastic grass that are put together to form a field.1 Ground-up used car tires are used to fill in the field to give it some bounce and cushion. Here are some pros of artificial turf. Turf requires less maintenance than a natural grass field. While there is some maintenance that comes along with turf, it is much less than grass. Another pro is that it is a smooth playing surface. When it rains or snows, the turf doesn’t get muddy and cause holes or ruts to form. Along with that, athletes are less prone to some injuries.1 This doesn’t mean that injuries won’t happen on turf because they do all the time, but it does mean that there is less of a chance to get injured. Artificial turf is pesticide free and it saves water.2
Natural grass on the other hand is less expensive. Artificial turf can cost a lot of money to install and replace.2 Natural grass has no cost of installation only maintenance. Another con of turf is lead and zinc are present in some of the polyethylene grass strands and this can be very dangerous.1 There are also other chemicals used to make the turf that can be passed on in the runoff of water. This problem doesn’t occur with natural grass.
These are just a few things to consider. Everybody has a different opinion about this issue. Most people don’t think about some of these things when it comes to sports but I think it’s interesting. So which is better?
References
1Turf Wars: Pros and Cons of Artificial Turf. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2015, from http://www.momsteam.com/health-safety/turf-wars-pros-and-cons-of-artificial-turf
2Turf Tip - Synthetic turf vs. Natural Grass Athletic Fields. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2015, from http://turf.uark.edu/turfhelp/archives/021109.html
One con that I have seen with artificial turf is an injury to athletes call turf toe. Depending on how severe and the type of athlete it could become almost crippling.
ReplyDeleteOne con that I have seen with artificial turf is an injury to athletes call turf toe. Depending on how severe and the type of athlete it could become almost crippling.
ReplyDeleteGood blog! It can become a very tricky decision for schools and sports teams to decide which type of field to go with so there should be many blogs like this in the future to help people decide. People will all have their preference for their playing field so hearing these different pros and cons will help to make the best choice possible.
ReplyDeleteYou started to touch on the subject of cost. Although natural grass does have cost for installation as you must purchase seed to overseed every season it is not near the up front cost of artificial turf. The calculation that needs to be made though is whether or not over time will having turf be less expensive since there wont be a water bill and maintenance will be less. In my opinion if the money is available and there is a quality staff to perform upkeep natural grass is the way to go, if not turf is a no brainier
ReplyDeleteHi, Some truly wonderful posts on this site, thank you for your contribution.
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